Toxic materials for controlling insects, weeds, and fungi are commonly used in the agricultural industry and are a source of constant danger to farm personnel and livestock. These materials are generally used in powder or granular form and are packaged in plastic or paper composition bags each weighing from about twenty-five pounds to one-hundred pounds. At the present time, these bags are simply opened by the farmer and the contents are then poured into hoppers from which the toxic material is distributed to the areas where needed.
As an example of the danger associated with many of these toxic materials, consider the typical procedure now used in the United States for controlling corn rootworm. Perhaps the only effective insecticide which may legally be used in the United States for controlling corn rootworm is an organic phosphate which degrades after a few months in the soil or in a living body. However, while these organic phosphates have the desirable characteristic of being biodegradable they are extremely toxic cholinesterase inhibitors which cause severe symptoms and sometimes death when inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin. These insecticides are usually applied to the soil when the corn is being planted, and this is accomplished by means of insecticide distributors mounted to the planter which is in turn pulled by a tractor.
Recommended procedures for handling these insecticides include the use of masks, respirators, gloves, disposable clothing and the like while the bags are being unloaded into the hoppers mounted on the planters. However, such procedures are often not used. Moreover, it is recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency that the emptied bags be transported to an approved incinerator or landfill site for disposal, but because these sites are not always near at hand and thus are inconvenient to a busy farmer at planting time, the usual practice is simply to burn the empty bags either during or following planting. Toxic residue remaining in the bags can be released into the air as the bags are burned in an open fire.
It would be desirable to provide a means for enclosing each bag while it is being opened and emptied so as to minimize if not entirely eliminate the release of toxic dust to the atmosphere. In order to be effective, it is necessary that each bag be substantially completely emptied, and perhaps more importantly, the procedure must be fast. Otherwise, the busy farmer will probably use the present system of simply opening the bags and then pouring the contents into the hoppers.